The sign is posted on a nearly 40-acre parcel at the corner of Manley Road and Baldwin County 13 that the city purchased in late 2009 for $875,000. Since that purchase, the city has ramped up efforts to build a much-needed soccer complex, consisting of 10 fields.

Everything was lined up for construction to begin this year with $2 million budgeted for the effort and officials hoping to have the fields open for the city's fall recreational leagues. But challenges continued to present themselves and the former farmland remains an untouched lot full of weeds.

The latest and biggest problem came to light in late July when only one bid came back for the project and it was two-and-a-half times more than the original estimate.

Summerdale-based Summit Industries LLC submitted a bid of $5.49 million for work that only included grading and drainage, parking lots and the soccer fields. Sidewalks, fencing, irrigation and lighting were not included in the base bid. The bid was rejected by the council on Aug. 11 and the city is working on reducing costs to rebid the project.

"The mayor and I are working extremely hard trying to work with the engineer, Preble-Rish, to find ways to reduce costs while keeping as many amenities as we can," Council President Jack Burrell said.

Mayor Tim Kant said he has asked the council to give him a hard figure to work with since $2 million will not be enough.

"They are committed to building the soccer field," Kant said of the council. "They just want to make sure that what we're building is the best price for the city and see how we can get it done. I've already got the budget put together for this year so it's going to be decided one way or the other in September because they'll have to appropriate monies on what they're going to do."

Challenges

The project's first challenge was engineering as the property is on a slope and then late last year nearby residents raised concerns about having the main entrance to the complex on Manley Road.

The plans were retooled and accepted by the Fairhope Planning Commission with the main access points coming off of Baldwin County 13 and drainage was designed to work through a "green" underground system as opposed to retention ponds.

To make the redesigned access work Mayor Tim Kant held talks with the Baldwin County Commission and the City Council agreed to take over the maintenance of Baldwin County 13. With the road in Fairhope's control, the city will likely keep a low speed limit to avoid turn lanes into the complex's parking lot, which will have over 700 spaces. Three access points are planned for Baldwin County 13 and one on Manley Road.

In addition to the fields, the proposed facility would include a playground, a few gazebo-type structures and two picnic pavilions. An 8-foot-wide walking path would go around the perimeter of the complex and will be available for public use.

Overall the project is estimated to cost about $7 million but with the sticker shock of the first bid, Kant said the city will first focus on building fields for the city leagues and then work toward adding amenities.

"We've got to take care of our children in Fairhope first and then we can add the other bleachers and things generally around the championship fields," Kant said. "There's grants and so forth that I think we can apply for some of them. We managed to do well with some of these grants over the years. Not doing anything is not an option."

Burrell said all options are on the table and officials are looking at the possibility of having city workers do some of the work to cut back costs.

"To me, $5 million is out of reach for the city. That's my personal opinion," Burrell said. "I'm not willing to commit $5 million. In fact, I will not vote for $5 million."

Kant said the council has a lot of options but has to settle on a set cap amount.

"I believe we can get something started this year," Kant said. "It all depends on if we have to rebid a new plan or just take bids out on the current plan."